This invention relates generally to wall protectors and, more specifically, to a resilient wall protector assembly which includes a retainer member fixedly mounted on the wall surface to be protected, and a resilient member which is movably supported on the retainer member for relative movements thereto upon impact against the resilient member with resulting deformation thereof.
Wall surfaces in hallways are frequently exposed to impact forces and other abuse. This is particularly true in hospitals or other such heavily trafficked buildings where damage to the walls or wall corners mays result in the ordinary use of the building as a result of the careless use of carts, patient moving vehicles, and movement of furniture and/or equipment. An impact or scrapping force on a wall may, for example, chip or break a ceramic tile, or dent or otherwise cause deterioration of a plaster wall.
In order to prevent damage to the wall surfaces of public buildings, bumpers or rails of various types have been mounted on the walls and wall corners. Frequently, such protective elements are unsightly. In order to be effective and prevent damage to the wall, the bumbers or rails must be capable of absorbing the impact forces while transmitting a minimal amount of such forces to the supporting wall structure.
Numerous bumpers or rails are known in the prior art. For example, corner guards for protecting wall corners are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,072,884; 3,133,326; 3,559,356; 3,712,003 and 3,717,968. The devices disclosed in the last three-numbered patents are typical of the known constructions, these utilizing retainer members which are adapted to be fixedly mounted to the corner to be protected, the retainers defining elongate channels on each side of the wall forming the corner. Resilient strips bridge the corner and have the free edges thereof received within the channels defined by the retainer members. Upon impact, the resilient member deforms and causes the edges of the resilient member to move within the retainer channels. However, the prior art corner guard constructions have generally been inconvenient to install. Additionally, the resiliency and the ability to form restoring forces was normally only a function of the configuration, dimensions and nature of the material of the resilient member. This has sometimes required the selection of resilient materials which are either too hard and transmit too much of the impacting forces to the supporting wall structure, or too soft to result in excessive deformation thereby transmitting impact forces to the underlying wall support structure.
Generally, the prior art corner quard constructions have either been too complex in construction and, therefore, too expensive to manufacture and assemble, or have been ineffective for their intended uses.
Another construction for a corner guard is disclosed in the Specification sheet No. 10 (10.6/Paw) of the Pawling Rubber Corporation of Pawling, New York, and dated January, 1974; and in the Specification Sheet AFP/103 of the American Floor Products Company of Rockville, Maryland. Both of these specification sheets disclose a corner guard construction which is very similar and includes aluminum retainers provided with continuous pincer-like channels adapted to receive beads or projections extending from the inner surface of a resilient corner guard configurated to overlap the retainer. However, the prior art corner guards under discussion generally retrain relative movements between the retainer and the resilient corner guard so as to prevent substantial absorption of impact forces. Additionally, alignment of the beads or projections with the openings of the pincer-like channels may make it difficult or inconvenient to assemble this prior art corner guard construction.
Bumper guards for surface mounting on flat walls are also known. For example, wall guards are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,980,347 and 3,861,110. In the last mentioned patent, a retainer is provided, and a resilient bumper member is provided which has divergent legs each of which has an inwardly facing channel at the free end. When placed on the retainer, the channel fits over the side edges of the retainer. However, with this arrangement, the resiliency and the capacity for generating restoring forces are only a function of the thickness and the material of the resilient member, as with the above described corner guard constructions. Additionally, with this construction, the resilient member can be removed or inadvertently separate from the supporting retainer. This makes the loss of the resilient members a possibility either as a result of accident or vandalism.
A combination hand rail and wall protector is also known and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,825,229. Here, a rigid retainer is mounted on the wall and a resilient trim piece is received on the retainer. However, this construction suffers the same disadvantages as described in connection with the last mentioned bumper guard which forms the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,110.